We think it is important for you to know how we handle information we communicate via the Internet. This Terms & Conditions statement outlines our practices and our sensitivity to your right to privacy. We reserve the right to revoke access at any time for any reason.

Response to Electronic Communication Ė Piedmont Healthcare will make its best effort to provide a timely response to electronic inquiries. In some cases, the clinic staff that needs to respond to an electronic inquiry or other communication may not be immediately available so a patient should allow at least three (3) business days for a response. Accordingly, emergency situations requiring immediate attention should not be submitted electronically.

Furthermore, with respect to any electronic communications sent by the patient, we are only able to respond to such communications based on the information provided by the patient. If there is insufficient information provided, we will be unable to provide accurate and reliable services.

Web Site Links - MyChart may offer links to related medical Web sites not managed by Piedmont Healthcare. These Web site link(s) are for a patientís informational purposes only. Piedmont Healthcare does not endorse and has not verified the accuracy of the information in/on these Web sites, and the patient should not rely on any of the information found on the Web sites for purposes of treatment or diagnosis.

Minor Eligibility - An individual must be age 18 or older to request a personal account. Parents or guardians of minor children may request access to the minor child's account by following the terms outlined in the "Proxy Access" section of this Terms and Conditions statement. Minor children between the ages of 12 and 17 (inclusive) will not be eligible to participate in the full spectrum of MyChart services. Under State and Federal law, there are certain types of medical information that the parent or guardian of a minor patient age 12 or older may not view without consent of the minor patient. Because of these requirements, we cannot offer the full spectrum of services to parents of minor patients in this age category. Thus, when a minor patient reaches age 12, restrictions will be placed on MyChart access until he/she reaches age 18.

Proxy Access - Individuals age 18 or older may request proxy access to another individualís MyChart account by completing the Proxy Access portion of the MyChart Consent Form and submitting it to Piedmont Healthcare. Such access will only be granted to parties with parental rights or legal guardianship over the MyChart account holder and only to the extent that the party requesting proxy access can demonstrate the legal right to account holder's medical information. Only one person will be granted proxy access to a MyChart account. A MyChart account will be activated for both the proxy and the account holder. If the proxyís legal relationship with the account holder changes, the proxy must inform the clinic immediately by calling thier Piedmont primary care provider's office. Piedmont Healthcare reserves the right to revoke proxy access at any time for any reason.

E-mail Privacy - Patients who are users of MyChart should be aware that they will be notified via e-mail when there is new medical information to be viewed on MyChart. This means that any person with access to a patientís e-mail will be able to see this notification. This could include the patientís spouse, employer or anyone else that can access a patientís e-mail account. Although no private medical information will be sent, the notification that new medical information is available by accessing MyChart may be information that a patient would not want others to know. Thus, patients should take this into account when providing an e-mail address.

Please know that if you send us an e-mail communication, it may be shared with the Piedmont Healthcare staff that assists the physician in providing the patientís medical care. A patientís confidential medical information on MyChart will be accessible only to appropriate clinical staff.

Security and Confidentiality - We afford the same degree of confidentiality to medical information stored on MyChart as is given to medical information stored by Piedmont Healthcare in any other medium. Piedmont Healthcare is committed to protecting the confidentiality of your medical information. We limit Piedmont Healthcare employeesí access and ability to enter or view information based upon their role in your care. Firewalls, passwords, encryption, and audit trails are further used to safeguard your information. We shall identify the records released and note the time and date of access each time a patient accesses MyChart. We have taken steps to make all information received from our online visitors as secure as possible against unauthorized access and use.

For other than general information viewing, MyChart must be accessed with a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) compatible browser or terminal (Netscape or Internet Explorer versions 5.0 or greater). Our SSL web server uses authentication and offers the highest level of encryption technology commercially available (128-bit RC4).

You can tell when you are secure by looking at the location (URL) field. If the URL begins with https:// (instead of http://), the document comes from a secure server. This means your data cannot be read or deciphered by unauthorized individuals. You can tell whether you are truly connected to Piedmont Healthcare by viewing the digital certificate. This certificate verifies the connection between the Piedmont Healthcare server's public key and the server's identification.

User names and passwords provide two layers of authentication and are stored in an encrypted database that is isolated from the Internet. As a MyChart user, your role in maintaining the security of your medical information is: 1) Changing your password on a regular basis, and 2) Keeping your login ID and password confidential.